MSI Nightblade Barebone System Review
Testing Continued
Valley Benchmark is a GPU stress-testing tool from the developers of the very popular and highly acclaimed Heaven Benchmark. This non-synthetic benchmark powered by the state-of-the art UNIGINE Engine showcases a comprehensive set of cutting-edge graphics technologies with a dynamic environment and fully interactive modes available to the end user.
Heaven Benchmark with its current version 4.0 is a GPU-intensive benchmark that hammers graphics cards to the limits. This benchmark tool can be effectively used to determine the stability of a GPU under extremely stressful conditions, as well as check the cooling system’s potential under maximum heat output.
3DMark includes everything you need to benchmark your hardware. With three all new tests you can bench everything from smartphones and tablets, to notebooks and home PCs, to the latest high-end, multi-GPU gaming desktops.
Adrenaline Benchmark Tools where used to get the numbers for the following games. This tools uses the built in benchmarking tool within the games.
Below are some temperature readings while the system was at rest and while doing some benchmarking. The ambient temperature during the testing was at 25c. The noise level coming from the MSI Nightblade was less than I thought it would be. I figured that with the confined space the temperatures would be higher and the fans would be blowing like crazy. I would say that the noise was no more than what comes from my desktop system. Now when I manually cranked up the system fan to 100% it sounded like a hair dryer on medium to high.
| At Idle with the fan on Auto | ||
| Temperature | c | f |
| CPU | 33 | 91 |
| System | 40 | 104 |
| Fan Speed | rpm | |
| CPU | 1101 | |
| System | 126 | |
| At Idle with the fan on 100% | ||
| Temperature | c | f |
| CPU | 31 | |
| System | 37 | |
| Fan Speed | rpm | |
| CPU | 1090 | |
| System | 3600 |
| FurMark Burn In Test | ||
| Temperature | c | f |
| CPU | 48 | 118 |
| System | 48 | 118 |
| Fan Speed | rpm | |
| CPU | 1145 | |
| System | 1386 |
| OCCT CPU Stress Test | ||
| Temperature | c | f |
| CPU | 70 | 158 |
| System | 45 | 113 |
| Fan Speed | rpm | |
| CPU | 1403 | |
| System | 1906 |
Your graphs are completely biased! how can you visually represent a .1 FPS difference by a bar twice as large? Even under the premise of testing different mobo response .1 FPS is small enough to call percent error in a scientific test. show the result accurately or at least express how little difference .1 FPS means in any situation. it means every 10 seconds you will have render 1 additional frame on one system versus the other.
Thank you so much for this review, been waiting for something this in depth by someone who knows their stuff.
I’m planing on getting a new desktop this year and this one caught my eye. I have 3 questions for you I hope you don’t mind.
This should be perfectly compatible with current top tier nvidia cards right? Their size is a bit similar to amd but the titan is a bit longer.
This has a 600w psu, which is good but not exactly stellar, when the gtx 790 (or any future nvidia card) I will want to upgrade to that. Will 600w be enough? If not, upgrading the psu is easy enough? Looks too cramped in there and I read somewhere this system uses shorter cables to fit everything better so I’m not sure if the regular cables on a 1000w psu would provide a problem.
Last question is about the over clock button, how does this work exactly? No matter which CPU I out in there (say a haswell) the button will automatically over clock it? Does it need any configuration? And is it the equivalent to bios over clocking or is it just software oc?
Thanks!
Yes the Nightblade is compatible with the high end graphic cards. Actually the PCI-e slot is a Gen 3 one which means it is ready for the next level. Be sure that you get a full-size card that is within the maximum length of 290mm and 35mm thick.
The 600w PSU is good for what most people would use. If you throw a Titian in the system you are probably going to be close. The way I look at figuring a power supply is to always take 20% off the “Stated” wattage which would take the 600w psu down to 480w. Then using a fairly descent psu calculator like this one at Enermax http://www.enermax.outervision.com/ you can get a level of wattage your system might pull. This is all guess work but it gives you a good starting point. I don’t think you could even get a 1000w psu into the case.
The OC button is an OK feature as it did OC my 4770K by a small percentage. I am not sure what it would do with a “non OC ready” CPU. my guess is that it would just push it to the highest speed and keep it there without letting it ramp up and down The Windows GUI by MSI for overclocking was easy to use and did well, but the best way is still the old way and that is within the BIOS.
Thanks for your reply, that may be the dealbeaker for me with this case, the PSU, that affects future compatibility, it’s rumored the gtx 790 may need more than a 600w psu and I am not sure how easy it will be to upgrade the psu in this case!